Nova Southeastern University (NSU) has just successfully completed the deployment of their new “Shark Card” campus wide smart card program. The NSU Shark card program, provided by SmartCentric in conjunction with Siemens Communications Inc, combines the latest in leading edge smart card technology using both contact and contactless chip technologies and allows for fast and highly secure payments and access to systems and services. As well as the normal uses of the ID card, the SmartCity Password Wallet application on the Shark card is also being used by students and faculty in the Heath Professions Division for access and authentication with their Dental Practice/Clinic Management System.

Dublin, Ireland and West Palm Beach, Florida, United States: Nova Southeastern University (NSU) has just successfully completed implementation of their new “Shark Card” campus wide smart card program. The NSU Shark card program, provided by SmartCentric Technologies International (SmartCentric) in conjunction with Siemens Communications Inc, combines the latest in leading edge smart card technology using both contact and contactless chip technologies and allows for fast and highly secure payments and access to systems and services. Utilizing SmartCentric’s latest software SmartCity® 6, the new Shark card gives cardholders access to meal plans, purchases in retail shops, vending machines, photocopying, printing, and physical door access. In addition, students and faculty in the Heath Professions Division are using the SmartCity Password Wallet application for access and authentication with their Dental Practice/Clinic Management System. All these functionalities reside on one card.

The whole deployment process was well managed and supported by the vendors and university alike. The carding of 25,000 students, faculty, and staff was staged over four main re-carding sessions to reduce the impact on the university and also ensure a simple and painless changeover to the new system.

The main incentive for changing to the new card system was the need for a flexible and secure solution that could be enhanced and extended over time. “We wanted a system that could support our campus card needs today and for years to come, while also offering flexibility and the highest quality customer support. We found all this in the SmartCentric solution” says Marc Crocquet, Associate Vice President Business Services at NSU. “In addition, the incorporation of a biometrics in the new “Shark Card” allows the university to develop new authentication options for high security and data sensitive applications”

Benny Mohall Executive Director-Projects, Systems & Technical Support at NSU added “we wanted a system that was based on the most advanced technologies available today that would provide a platform for the university’s needs not only for today but provided a platform for rapid expansion well into the future. SmartCity® and SmartCentric gave us this”

Kieran Timmins, CEO of SmartCentric “The NSU implementation is the next generation of smart card systems. The technology is revolutionary in the world of campus card technology. It will be available across all facilities and services on campus, offering cardholders a huge range of benefits from meal plans to logical access, all on one card. The new system will benefit not only student cardholders, but faculty and staff as well, today and into the future.”

Chris Rizzetto, SmartCentric’s Director of Sales for North America, adds, “SmartCity® 6 will enable more campuses to take advantage of what smart card technology has to offer. Our SmartCity 6 platform allows the flexibility to combine multiple solutions for a well rounded program, whether you choose to use one or all of our applications.”

About SmartCentric Technologies International Limited

SmartCentric Technologies International Limited (SmartCentric) is a specialist technology company focused on secure payments and transactions and multi-application smart card systems. SmartCentric’s flagship product, SmartCity®, was originally developed by the SmartCentric team in the early 1990’s and has evolved into a trusted worldwide card solution. SmartCity® is a Multi-Application Smart Card based system which has many wide-ranging uses, such as stored value, loyalty, gift cards, logical access, physical access, biometrics, parking and ticketing. SmartCity® is based on international standards and is teamed with best of breed industry partners to deliver leading edge technology and first class client friendly solutions.
Over 8 million SmartCity® cards have been issued worldwide in diverse sites such as colleges, government offices, military establishments, banks, cities, towns, shopping areas, and stadiums.

About SmartCity® 6

SmartCity® version 6 offers the full range of SmartCentric’s multi-applications now on both contactless (RFID) and contact smart cards.

There are more system options and controls available. SmartCity® 6 offers remote data collection giving the best of both worlds for networked areas and remote locations. In addition, is a reduced requirement for hardware and a simple deployment and card issuing application. New customer cards, POS terminals, vending machines, servers and applications can be introduced more easily and quickly. All new interfaces are web based making it simple to deploy and operate.

Key features of the new system include centralized processing and security which offers reduced costs for card issuing; easy to configure, deploy and manage services, offering increased ease of use for both on campus and off-campus and city card programs; improved transaction processing and collection giving more information with less effort; web based interfaces; better administration tools for easy system management; simple upgrade of cards in the field; an improved reporting system and a new infrastructure which supports smaller issuers.

In early 2008, SmartCity® 6 will be further enhanced to provide customers with an SaaS (Software as a Service) offering allowing campuses to benefit from the features and flexibility of SmartCity with little upfront investment.

About NSU

Nova Southeastern University, with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida, and student educational centers in Tampa, Orlando, Miami, West Palm Beach, and Jacksonville, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada, is the largest independent, not-for-profit institution of higher education in the Southeast, and the 7th largest nationally. It awards bachelor’s, master’s, educational specialist, doctoral, and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields, including business, psychology, counseling, computer and information sciences, education, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, optometry, nursing, law, marine sciences, and other social sciences. For more information visit www.nsu.nova.edu.